The first time I caught Tulo fever was on a lazy afternoon at Hi Corbett Field in Tucson. It was early March in 2006 and Troy Tulowitzki was a fresh-faced 21-year-old rookie.
My best buddy, Joe, had ventured down to spring training and I was giving him the lowdown on the Rockies. I’d been on the beat for less than a year and I was learning the ropes, but even I could spot a rising star.
“Watch Tulowitzki at short, he’s got a chance to be a great player,” I told Joe, basing my opinion as much on what I had read as what I had seen.
A couple of innings later, Tulo wowed Joe, me and the rest of the crowd at Hi Corbett, taking a throw from left-center field and then whirling to throw out Arizona’s Alberto Callaspo at the plate.
I felt pretty self-satisfied with my prediction about Tulo’s impending greatness.
Tulo’s throw, a John Elway-like guided missile, was stunning in its velocity and accuracy. But there was more than pure athleticism at work that day. Tulo played the game with a rare combination of passion, intensity and a little boy’s joy.
That was obvious to me at the moment of his throw, as well as after the game when I saw Tulo spend time autographing baseballs, hats and glove for a mob of kids gathered near the Rockies’ clubhouse.
I bring this up now because Tulo currently rules the baseball universe. If the folks in the Big Apple didn’t tip their cap to Tulo before, they are doing so now after he led the Rockies to a four-game sweep of the Mets in New York. In Monday’s game, with a runner on third and two outs, he scooped up a David Murphy groundball in the hole toward third and made a perfect leaping throw to first.
“He makes that play look easy,” Mets shortstop Jose Reyes said. “It’s unbelievable, crazy. Right on the money.”
Just one half-inning later, Tulowitzki belted a two-run shot over the left field wall that ultimately decided the game.
And all of that passion, intensity and little boy’s joy? It hasn’t diminished one bit, even after he signed a $134.5 million contract extension.
More Tulo
In case you missed it, here are some of the staggering numbers Tulo has put up:
Trivia time
At the time of his major league debut with the Rockies, Tulo was 21 years, 324 days old, making him the third youngest position player in franchise history. Name the Rockies’ position players who were younger than Tulowitzki when the made their big-league debuts. (Answer below.)
Polling
has an interesting poll up right now, asking which player you would rather sign to a big-money, long-term contract moving forward. Tulowitzki or Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols?
“The ball carries well at Coors Field, but we’re pretty sure it doesn’t carry all the way to Queens. Rockies shortstop Troy Tulowitzki continues piling up mile-high numbers everywhere he plays, hitting a home run in all four games of a series at the Mets. Given age and position, would he be a better buy than Albert Pujols?”
The results, as of noon today: The 26-year-old Tulowitzki 67 percent, the 31-year-old Pujols 33 percent.
Quotable
“Troy Tulowitzki is a very, very, very good player. But he came into this series hitting (.214) so someone is getting him out.”
— Mets manager Terry Collins, to the
Reader’s rant
“Tulowitzki is knocking the ball out of the park day after day, even in bad weather, on a long road trip. Sadly, un-informed fans across the nation will always resort to: ‘OK, great stats, but he plays at Coors Field.'”
— Colorado Brian
In case you missed it
The Rockies have company in the race to be the NL’s best team in April. The Phillies, armed with a dangerous pitching staff, are 9-3 after Cliff Lee blanked the Nationals 4-0 on Thursday.
It came a day after Roy Halladay shut out the Nationals. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time a pair of Phillies pitchers threw back-to-back complete games since Paul Byrd and Curt Schilling on May 11-12, 1999.
Trivia answer
Second baseman Robert Mejia was 21 years, 92 days old when he made his debut on July 15, 1993, and infielder Juan Uribe was 21 years, 261 days old when he made his debut on April 8, 2001.
Patrick Saunders: 303-954-1720 or psaunders@denverpost.com
